The new trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another finds Leonardo DiCaprio’s anxious revolutionary character, Bob Ferguson, struggling through a series of passwords required to get help from fellow revolutionaries.
“Maybe you should have studied the rebellion text a little harder,” he’s told when he can’t remember the answer to the coded question, “What time is it?”
The trailer, which follows a One Battle After Another teaser released last week, lays out a little more clearly who plays who in the film, which is Anderson’s followup to 2021’s Licorice Pizza. Teyana Taylor plays Ferguson’s wife, who comes from generations of revolutionaries. Chase Infiniti plays the couple’s daughter, who Ferguson tries desperately to save after an attack on the family’s home by Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn).
Soon DiCaprio’s Ferguson crosses paths with another, more confident revolutionary, played by Benicio Del Toro. Ferguson calls him “sensei,” and at the conclusion of the trailer, howls at him, “Viva la revolucion!”
Also Read: All 10 — Yes 10 — Quentin Tarantino Movies Ranked
Background on the One Battle After Another Trailer, Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and Starring Leonardo DiCaprio
One Battle After Another pairs Anderson with DiCaprio for the first time, and reunites him with Penn, who had a notable appearance in Licorice Pizza.
The new film also stars Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, and Licorice Pizza star Alana Haim. It was filmed in locations including Sacramento, California and El Paso, Texas.
One Battle After Another arrives in theaters September 26.
Also Read: New Film From The Daniels Among Recipients of California Film and TV Tax Credits
It’s the second Anderson film to be based on a Thomas Pynchon novel. The reclusive author also wrote the 2009 novel that inspired Inherent Vice, which starred Joaquin Phoenix as a stoner detective.
One Battle After Another is inspired by Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, set in 1984, which follows 1960s rebels who are tracked down by a relentless federal prosecutor.
The new film seems to take considerable liberties with the source material — it’s set in a different time, not the 1980s. Phone booths still exist, but things look a tad bit distopian.
The Wall Street Journal reported in August that the Warner Bros. film is budgeted at $140 million, with DiCaprio earning a $20 million salary.
That figure has earned some headlines, because Anderson’s top-grossing film so far, There Will Be Blood, took in $76 million at the box office.
But the higher budget for One Battle After Another has been justified by DiCaprio’s involvement — he remains one of few truly bankable movie stars – and the prestige associated with directing a Paul Thomas Anderson film.
Main image: One Battle After Another, by Paul Thomas Anderson. Warner Bros.